Tag: Barack Obama (page 57)

The Nevada Culinary Workers Union, with 60,000 members including the state's casino workers, endorsed Barack Obama late last night.

Nevada's primary is January 19. The Democratic turnout is expected to be 40,000. Here's some analysis from the Las Vegas Sun.

The SEIU in Nevada also endorsed Obama last night, but the implication isn't clear.

The chaotic selection process and deep division within the union's ranks will likely diminish the endorsement's weight. The decision came after a teleconference among 34 of the union's 44-member executive board Tuesday.

Update: Nevada Congresswoman Shirley Berkley endorsed Hillary today.

Update: Obama's speech:

He congratulates Hillary Clinton for winning New Hampshire. More about change. This sounds like the same speech he would have given had he won New Hampshire.

*****

Here's Obama. Guess he agrees Hillary takes New Hampshire.

He can thank the media for its trashing of Hillary Clinton. There must have been a huge backlash -- or else the pollsters don't know what they are doing.

Another pundit said he made a mistake by laying in the weeds the past two days and not putting up a fight.

Update: Several media pundits have remarked his speech was a victory speech. On his new slogan, "Yes, We Can," Pat Robertson and Rachel Maddow got into a dispute whether it was meant to reach out to, as Robertson said, "illegal immigrants" (see Si, se puede) or, as Rachel said, organized labor.

Update: Odinga has changed his mind and now agreed to meet with President Kibaki. It may be that Barack Obama's telephone call was successful.

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The U.S. today urged Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga to engage in bi-lateral talks to resolve Kenya's political crisis.

Barack Obama called the opposition leader to urge him to agree to the talks.

Barack Obama, whose late father was Kenyan, spoke with the opposition leader Raila Odinga for about five minutes from New Hampshire, asking the opposition leader to meet directly with President Mwai Kibaki, said the Democratic presidential candidate's spokesman.

"He urged an end to violence and that Mr. Odinga sit down, without preconditions, with President Kibaki to resolve this issue peacefully," said the spokesman, Bill Burton.

The outcome (from first linked article): [More...]

I just watched a newsclip on CNN of reporters interviewing Barack Obama's paternal grandmother in Kenya. She said he was a good listener. She spoke in the Kenyan language, through an interpreter. Obama's uncle in Kenya showed a picture of Obama's first visit to Kenya and his "ceremonial Kenyan home" after his father died in a car accident in 1982. [Update 1/8: Here's the video.]

The Chicago Tribune reported Obama's parents met and married while they were students at the University of Hawaii. He was born six months after their marriage. They separated when he was three years old. His father left Hawaii for Harvard and his mother remarried when he was five years old. He didn't see his father again until he was ten, and then for a brief visit.

In[his] memoir, Obama describes his experiences growing up in his mother's American middle class family. His knowledge about his African father, who returned once for a brief visit in 1971, came mainly through family stories and photographs.

So how well does Obama's "granny" know him, do they speak a language in common for her to know he's a good listener, and was it really worth CNN's time to conduct this visit and our's to watch it?

Update: A commenter below explains what CNN should have -- that Obama went and stayed with his grandmother to learn about his roots and his sister interpreted. That makes her comment about his being a good listener at least make sense. See below:

British humorist and political commentator Martin Lewis, writing at Huffpo today points out that change takes years to effect and will be rebuffed by the Republicans at every turn.

Assuming Obama wins, and the change his supporters expected doesn't materialize fast enough in our "I want it now" world, as it won't, Martin asks whether the young voters and others who turned to him for his message of change will still be with us when it's time for the 2010 and 2014 Congressional elections, or the 2012 presidential race, when Obama would have to run for re-election.

Will the beauty of Obama's inspirational poetry sustain millions of fickle first-time voters through the many, many harsh years that will come with the realities of governing? Especially years when there will be bitter and venal fights for change?

Inspiring the young and disaffected to vote is a noble undertaking. And Barack Obama deserves our utmost respect and appreciation for what he is achieving. He (and we) also needs to be sure that he is not inciting expectations that he - and indeed any president - is powerless to fulfill among millions of people who (foolishly) expect instant results. And who are known to turn on a dime when they don't get them...

I got to know Martin at the Aspen Comedy festival several years ago when we ended up attending several events together and shared a few meals. We stayed in touch by e-mail for a few years. He's smart and perceptive and today I think he makes good points.

Where does Obama stand on criminal justice issues? Is he really a progressive? Will he stand up for the rights of the criminally accused ... or just those of the wrongfully charged or convicted?

He's been quick to point out his admirable work in Illinois getting legislation passed to require mandatory taping of police interrogations and enact some death penalty and racial profiling reforms. He has complained about the racial disparity in crack-powder cocaine sentences and once advocated abolishing mandatory minimums. (For Obama in 2004 on abolishing mandatory minimums, see this video clip at 1:00 minute in.)

More recently, he has retreated to promising a review of mandatory minimum sentences.

Since the mainstream media seems incapable of presenting anything but his words promising change, hope, optimism and a "working majority" (meaning compromise with Republicans) I took an afternoon to research his record going back to 1998.

The results, some progressive and laudatory, others decidedly not, as well as my prior posts on his crime record and statements as U.S. Senator and presidential candidate, are detailed below:

Taylor Marsh has a good post on the media's gender bias against Hillary where a show of passion or a flash of anger or forceful self-defense is deemed shrill and a laugh is deemed a cackle.

While Big Tent doesn't agree, I think Kevin Drum nails it:

Am I feeling bitter? You bet. Not because Hillary Clinton seems more likely than not to lose — I can live with that pretty easily — but because of how she's likely to lose. Because the press doesn't like her. Because any time a woman raises her voice half a decibel she instantly becomes shrill.

I'm disgusted and embarrassed by the media's treatment of Hillary Clinton. And their fawning over Barack Obama and his mantra of "change."

Kevin goes on to say: [More...]

CNN pundits tonight skewered Hillary and sainted Obama. The pundits were so awful I had to use the mute button. Especially on Carl Bernstein. He couldn't even talk about Hillary...only about his very subjective perception that Bill Clinton seemed devastated. I saw the same speech -- live at the hotel -- and I thought Bill seemed proud.

Obama is the hero of the night. The media loved his speech, in which he played (overplayed, in my view) the Martin Luther King, Jr. card. His other topic, repeated throughout, was his appeal to New Hanpshire voters. He does have one major asset in my view.... his wife Michelle.

Hillary was gracious and like she always does, touted her experience and specifics about her aqenda if she's elected. But, her speech tonight was different -- in recognition of Obama's win of the youth vote, she stressed global warming and bringing the troops home. No mention of social security, caregivers, voting for a female, etc, which she was stressing just yesterday when I heard her in Cedar Rapids.

Bottom line: As I wrote last night, I think the Democratic nomination will turn on the youth vote. and it's too late for Hillary to pick it up -- Obama owns them. Rock the Vote may not have brought it home for Gore or Kerry, but it seems like it can do the trick for Obama. [More....]

Dennis Kucinich today asked his caucus goers to support Barack Obama.

He said his request is only for Iowa supporters as he intends to win in New Hampshire.

Obama's response:

He said he and Kucinich have fought for some of the same priorities, including ending the war in Iraq, reforming Washington and creating a better life for working families.

When Obama backs Kucinich's positions on the war on drugs, the death penalty, mandatory minimums and the Patriot Act -- even immigration-- then it might mean something. As of tonight, it's not a reason to switch to Obama vs. Edwards or Hillary.

Running counter to every other recently released poll, the DMR Poll not only has Obama holding his lead but widening it:

Obama was the choice of 32 percent of likely Democratic caucusgoers, up from 28 percent in the Register's last poll in late November, while Clinton, a New York senator, held steady at 25 percent and Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, was virtually unchanged at 24 percent.

Remember, the DMR Poll nailed the order of the 2004 Iowa Caucus and is easily the most respected Iowa poll. Obama will now be the odds on favorite to win the Iowa Caucuses.

(Speaking for me only) If the DMR poll is accurate, I predict that not only will Obama win Iowa, he will win the nomination.

Gen. Wesley Clark today:

"This is a time for leadership, not politics. Senator Obama's campaign seems to believe that Senator Clinton's actions led to the tragic events in Pakistan. This is an incredible and insulting charge. It politicizes a tragic event of enormous strategic consequence to the United States and the world, and it has no place in this campaign."

Here's another tidbit of information. On December 12, 2007, Katie Couric asked the candidates which country frightened them the most. Barack Obama answered "Iran." Hillary answered "Pakistan." From the transcript (available on Lexis.com):

COURIC: What country frightens you the most, and what would you do about it as president?

Senator BARACK OBAMA (Democratic Presidential Candidate): I think Iran poses a significant threat to stability in the Middle East. So I think we have to talk to Iran directly. And when we talk to Iran directly, even if there are profound disagreements there, that will send a signal to the world that we are not simply seeking to impose our will without paying attention to what other countries think. And that kind of dialogue has not taken place. This president has refused to do it. I think it's a profound mistake. JFK once said we should never negotiate out of fear, but we should never fear to negotiate.

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The AP reports that Barack Obama is back in the stance of the boxer, jabbing while on the defense.

The Illinois senator's stump speech for the final six days of the Democratic race is a package of inspirational rhetoric, policy promises and his signature message of hope. But the undercurrent of the addresses — delivered to large crowds four and five times a day — is a dogged response to Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards and others who say he's too raw and ambitious for the presidency.

Obama can't win the foreign policy experience battle. He said about Hillary today:

In Coralville, Iowa, Obama sniffed at suggestions that Clinton's travels as first lady gave her more foreign policy credentials. Real-world experience matters, he said, "not just what world leaders I went and talked to at the ambassador's house; who I had tea with."

Dismissing Hillary as one who only had tea with Bhutto is silly. As Andrea Mitchell said on Hardball yesterday (transcript on Lexis.com),

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